I’m starting to think that the federal government is following the slapstick script used by the province to sell the HST as it tries to revive the prospects for an oil pipeline from Alberta to the coast.

How else to explain the Keystone Kops moment when the pride of the oil-cleanup fleet in B.C. ran aground on its way to the press conference Monday where it was scheduled to be a prop in a photo-op?

The press conference was held by Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver and Transport Minister Denis Lebel to announce a range of measures designed to create what is being billed as a “World Class Tanker Safety System.”

The “world class” label line dovetails nicely with one of the demands from Premier Christy Clark for “world-leading marine oil-spill response, prevention and recovery systems.”

The 23-metre-long oil-skimming vessel was on its way from its home port of Esquimalt to the press conference in Coal Harbour when it hit what was described as an uncharted sandbar off Sand Heads at the mouth of the Fraser River.

Centuries of silt carried down the Fraser have created a shallow bank that extends well out into Georgia Strait. There may be uncharted sand banks but the area is well charted and it shouldn’t have taken more than routine care and attention to stay clear of the danger zone for a vessel that only draws three metres. Especially since it wasn’t heading up the river and had no reason to get too close.

When last I checked with the company that operates the vessel, the incident is still under internal investigation, including the crucial question of why it was in an area that would have been so easy to avoid.

The ship floated off on its own with apparently no damage to the vessel but what may be irreparable harm to the federal government’s attempt to change the narrative around shipping oil along the B.C. coast.

In a less heated atmosphere, it might be possible to use the incident as an example of the need for some of the measures that were trotted out Monday, including a review of aids to navigation and improvements in ship traffic control.

But Twitter lit up with the giddy reaction from pipeline opponents who see it as more proof of their position, which is that even when the spotlight is on, accidents will be inevitable when humans are involved, no matter how good the technology is.

The fact that this was essentially a small vessel not subject to all the regulations tankers will face will no doubt be overlooked.

It’s unfortunate that the initiatives announced Monday will rightly be seen as a public relations exercise. Rightly because they come on the heels of the closing of the Kitsilano coast guard station and other cost-saving measures and because the shipping-related initiatives were announced in the context of trying to refloat the government’s hopes for a way to expand the export market for Alberta bitumen.

The announcement Tuesday of the appointment of Vancouver-based lawyer Doug Eyford as an envoy to consult with First Nations about energy projects confirmed that context.

Yet both the focus on tanker safety and the Eyford appointment are useful measures in their own right, if somewhat overdue. It’s doubtful that either has come in time to save the Northern Gateway Project, given the entrenched positions taken by First Nations and other opponents and the ham-fisted way Oliver and his federal colleagues tried to vilify legitimate opposition early on.

But both measures are still crucial for the future. One of the lessons that should be apparent from the Northern Gateway experience is that no project of this magnitude can be undertaken without substantive buy-in from First Nations early in the process.

And even without the increase in oil tanker traffic that the Northern Gateway Project would bring, we need a “world-class” tanker safety system to deal with the hazards from existing traffic.

According to a backgrounder handed out with the announcement Monday, there were about 1,500 tanker movements on the West Coast among 475,000 vessel movements in 2009-10.

Many of the ships that carry other cargo also have significant quantities of fuel on board that cause serious damage in the case of an accident. In fact, the only significant spill in the past 20 years has been from the BC Ferries’ Queen of the North when it went down in 2006.

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Craig McInnes: Pipeline PR exercise hits some rough water

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